Manufacture of covers for books or the like



Oct. 15, 1940. SELVA' v 7 2,217,773

MANUFACTURE OF COVERS FOR BOOKS OR THE LIKE Filed Sept. 22', 1958 t 77L h 1-7 1 U T W W Fi .2

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Patented Oct. 15, 1940 UNITED STATES rATENr orr cs MANUFACTURE OF COVERS 'FOR BOOKS OR THE LIKE Luigi Ruggero Selva, New York, N.:Y. Application September '22, 1938, Serial No. 231,113

My invention relates to the manufacture" of covers for books or the like, and more particularly to covers of the kind comprising a plurality of spaced strips of rigid material, such'as card board or the like, and intervening strips of flexible material.

In the manufacture of this kind of covers it has been customary heretofore to previously out a number of strips of card board to the desired length and width and to arrange them parallel to and spaced apart a certain distance from each other, simultaneously or successively fixing them in said position and finally covering them with the covering material such as paper, fabric or These steps of cutting, arranging and fixing the strips of rigid material have up to the present resulted in operations requiring expensive and slow manual work, and have been a hindrance to the manufacture of the above described kind of cover on a large and economical scale.

It is the primary object of my present invention to provide a method whereby said expensive steps of preparing and arranging the strips of rigid material are avoided. According to my invention -I provide the steps of preparing, such as, by punching, from a blank sheet of card board, or othersuitable material, a structure compris ing a plurality of spaced vertical strips having a length at least somewhat exceeding the height of the cover to be manufactured and connected together by transversal strips 'formed by the same material. Vertical strips of rigid material, spaced apart the required distance and held in the desired position by the said transversal strips are thus provided rapidly and economically. A sheet of a thin support, such as, for example a paper or fabric sheet, is then applied on a face of the structure, whereafter the transversal strips can be detached, while cutting the structure to the required size of the cover, and finally the covering material is applied. 1

Another object of my invention is to provide on the face of covers, of the kind described, flat spaces which are free from surface irregulari- R ties resulting from the stripsof rigid material forming the supporting structure of the cover, whereby to allow printing on said spaces of the title of the book or other desired matter.

A further object of my invention is to caus the covering material to promptly and easily adhere to the strips ofrigid material forming the supporting structure of the cover and to penetrate into the spaces between said strips, on being glued or pasted to said structure. The invention will be better understood-by cut to the desired size of the cover;

3 Claims. (011281-37),

means .of the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing,'where- Fig. 1 is a front view of the structurecomprisi'ng spaced strips made of card board or other suitable material, according to my invention;

Fig. 2 shows the same structure afterbeing Fig. 3 shows the same structure of Fig. 2, wherein free spaces for printing have been provided; I I v I 7 Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are fragmentary cross sections, to a greater scale, through lines-IVIV, VV and VI-VI of Figs. 1, '2 and 3 respectively;

Figs. '7 and 7A are front views of modified cardboard structures having spaced strips formed therein. 1

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary cross section of a finished cover;

Fig. 9 shows in a of the cover;

Figs. 10 and 11 show in a somewhat diagram matical way the step of pressing the covering similar way a modified form material on the supporting structure of the cover.

Referring tothe drawing, Figs. 1 and 4 show'a structure of card board, or other suitable substantially rigid material, consisting of a plurality of strips a, a parallel to and spaced a cer--.

versal strips t and s unaffected by the punching.

I determine the size of the blank in connection with that of the cover to be obtained, making the height of the' blank somewhat exceeding the height of the cover,,so that when cutting it to,

the desired height,.along lines m, n and m, n, the

end strips-t ands are entirely detached, leaving" a series of separate strips a (Figs. 2 and 5) with intervening; 'freej spaces b: The width of the blank is made equal to thatof the finished cover.

However, before detaching the end'strips t and 8,1 apply to a face of the structure, such as by glueing or pasting, a thin sheet h of paper, fabric or other relativelythin flexible material, to hold the strips in f the desired arrangement. The structure can then' be subjected to further treatment, such as covering it with fabric or leather, etc.

With the kind of covers here described, printing on their face inscriptions such as the title of the book, or other matter, constitutes a difliculty, owing to the uneven surface of the cover. It has been necessary heretofore to print such matter by dividing the Words into letters or groups of letters which were distributed on the sever-a1 projecting ribs of the cover, which procedure of course, has been quite difficult and impractical. Figs. 3 and 6 illustrate the method of my invention to obviate such difficulty. In the desired positions of the described structure there have been removed by means such as a punching operation, suitable portions A, B, leaving in the structure free apertures. Upon applying to the structure the covering material, the front and back layers of this latter will adhere to each other within the spaces A and B and form there corresponding areas of a material having a smooth surface, on which printing can be effected as usual.-

Although it has been said with reference to Fig. 1 that the structure shown therein was obtained from a blank having a height somewhat exceeding that of the cover to be manufactured and a width equal to that of the latter,

it is also possible'within the scope of my inven-.

porting structures for covers can be obtained strips 1 and f and on both the sides of the by cutting the sheet near to the lateral intermediate strips and 1". When a sheet of sufliciently thick and rigid card board or other suitable material is used, the provision of intermediate connecting strips such as f and f" can be dispensed with, and slots of a length multiple of the height of each cover canbe punched. This is illustrated in Fig. 7A, wherein the slots have a length only a little less than the total width of the card board sheet and the resulting strips are then cut to the desired height of the covers by dividing cuts p-p, p'--p', pll pll.

A fragmentary cross section of a finished cover is shown on Fig. 8, wherein a, a, are the rigid strips of card board, or other suitable material, and z, z are the layers of covering material, such as fabric, leather or paper, applied thereto. As it will be seen, the front (a) and backi (2') covering materials form, in the spaces r, r between the card board strips, thin flexible strips 11), in connecting the former with each other.

Fig. 9 shows a modified form of cover wherein the strips w, w of flexible material are formed at mid-thickness of the cardboard strips :1, a, instead of being level with one face thereof, as shown on Fig. 8. Figs. 10 and 11 diagrammatically illustrate means for mechanically pressing covering material onto the card board structure of the cover, in a similar mannerto that employed for usual covers, i. e., by means of a press, but providing means whereby the covering material will adhere not only to the faces of the card board strips but also to the' sides of thestrips and within the spaces r (Fig. 8) between said strips. To this end I provide applying to the upper plate E of a press (Fig. 10) a pad R of soft and resilient material, such as spongy rubber. The card board structure of the cover together with an upper sheet G and an under sheet (not distinctly shown on the drawing) of covering material, the whole having been properly pasted or glued, are placed on the table F of the press made, as usually, in the form of a flat hard surface. When the suitable pressure is applied to the plate E, the soft material R will penetrate in the spaces between the ribs of the cover (Fig. 11) and insure a perfect adherence of the covering material. Of course it will be also possible to apply the pad of soft material to the lower table and to have the upper plate of the press made as a flat hard surface. Finally it will also be possible to have both the upper and the lower table of the press fitted with a. pad of soft material, to produce covers having the flexible strips at mid-thickness, as shown on Fig. 9.

I claim:

1. In the manufacture of covers for books or the like of the kind comprising a plurality of spaced strips of rigid material and intervening strips of flexible material, a process comprising the steps of preparing a structure made of card board, or other suitable material, comprising a plurality of spaced strips having a length at least somewhat exceeding the height of the cover to be manufactured and connected together at the top and the bottom by transversal strips formed by the same material, removing portions of said strips within the size of the cover to allow for smooth surfaces being formed by the covering material of the cover, on which print ing of the title of the hook or other matter can be easily effected, applying substantially permanently at least on one face of the said structure a support of flexible material, and detaching the said transversal strips from the said structure.

2. In the manufacture of covers for books or the like of the kind comprising a plurality of spaced strips of rigid material and intervening strips of flexible material, a process compris-v ing the steps of preparing a structure made of card board, or other suitable material, comprising a plurality of spaced strips having a length at least somewhat exceeding the height of the cover to be manufactured and connected together at the top and the bottom by transversal strips formed by the same material, applying at least on one face of the said structure a support of thin flexible material, detaching from said structure the said transversal strips while cutting the structure to the size of the cover, applying covering material, such as paper, fabric or' leather to the said spaced strips, and causing the covering material to penetrate into the spaces between the spaced strips of rigid material and adhere to said spaced strips and also adhere, therebetween, to flexible material on the opposite side thereof.

3. In the manufacture of covers for books or the like of the kind comprising a plurality of spaced strips of rigid material and intervening strips of flexible material, a process comprising the steps of preparing a structure made of card board, or other suitable material, comprising a plurality of spaced strips having a length at least somewhat exceeding the height of the. cover to be manufactured and connected together at the top and the bottom by transversal strips formed by the same material, applying on one face of the said structure a support of thin, flexible --materia1, detaching from said structure the said transversal strips while cutting the structure to the size of the cover, applying covering material, such as paper, fabric or leatherto the other side of said spaced strips, and causing the covering material to penetrate into the spaces between the spaced strips of rigid material and adhere to said spaced strips and also adhere, therebetween, to the flexible material on the other side thereof.

LUIGI RUGGERO SELVA. 

